VOL. 51 ISSUE 3 JANUARY 21, 2014
P67
THE
PREDATOR
Sure Kawasaki made it look different, but it also
upgraded the Z1000's performance for 2014.
BY PAUL CARRUTHERS
PHOTOGRAPHY BY KEVIN WING
O
ne online Japanese-English dictionary gives three meanings to the
word Sugomi: dreadfulness, ghastliness and weirdness. The Japanese Culture Club, however, says it means intimidation. We're guessing Kawasaki is shooting
for the latter when it boasts about its 2014
Kawasaki Z1000's "sugomi styling."
While some may find the latest incarnation of the Z1000's styling to be weird,
ghastly or even dreadful, the majority of
those in the market for a naked streetfighter will likely find it intimidatingly spot-on.
Though the new Z1 doesn't feature a
complete redesign, it gets enough changes to warrant talking about and Kawasaki
let us loose on the new bike recently in the
environment it is most suited for: Urban
cruising and canyon carving. And it did just
fine in both, thank you very much.
So what's changed over last year's
Z1000?
For starters, the powerplant. Still
1043cc, the latest version has undergone
some changes to make it perkier. The intake cam profile has been changed to
boost torque, the fuel-injection system has
been re-programmed to make the throttle
response snappier, and the gearing has
been changed (a taller sixth gear for highway cruising).
